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Fighting Censorship: A Shift from Freedom to Diversity

Media and Law: Between Free Speech and Censorship

ISBN: 978-1-80071-730-5, eISBN: 978-1-80071-729-9

Publication date: 23 April 2021

Abstract

Purpose – It may be time to reformulate the rejection of censorship. Freedom is not the only opposite of, strategic resource against, or antidote to, censorship. Methodology/Approach – This chapter argues against censorship with a Kantian-normative approach (the deontological position of the categorical imperative), using conceptual analysis, constructivism, and international legal scholarship, from the standpoint of a humanity-wide duty to safeguard and promote cultural diversity and biodiversity. Increasingly visible weaknesses of the argument against censorship from the utilitarian standpoint of freedom, a negative argument, can be avoided in this way. Findings – Especially the neoliberal approach to freedom has no provisions against corporate and only little against copyright censorship, which are both becoming increasingly acute. Diversity, on the other hand, both biological and cultural, is argued to be instrumentally good, and intrinsically good, but the latter only if balanced by equality of basic rights. Originality/Value – The resulting moral and legal imperatives are to support, safeguard, and promote diversity, and thus to minimize both censorship in culture and selection/elimination in nature, but only to minimize them, simply because they cannot themselves be eliminated. It is impossible to eliminate elimination. This becomes clear when one considers self- and soft censorship. At least in the wide sense, censorship is inevitable – but sustainable development is impossible without strict minimization of censorship.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

For inspiration and useful comments, I thank Kim Cooper, Patricia Löwstedt and Cornelius Zehetner.

Citation

Löwstedt, A. (2021), "Fighting Censorship: A Shift from Freedom to Diversity", Deflem, M. and Silva, D.M.D. (Ed.) Media and Law: Between Free Speech and Censorship (Sociology of Crime, Law and Deviance, Vol. 26), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 9-23. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1521-613620210000026002

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

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